The Lakers' Curse of '94 (ctd.)
Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2020 6:23 pm
The 1993-1994 Los Angeles Lakers were not supposed to win.
http://pbsl.ijbl.net/1993/
Little is known about the Lakers’ finals victory the season prior. Almost 45 years later, some records do not seem to have held their ink too well:
http://pbsl.ijbl.net/1992
But we do know that the Lakers won it all in 92-93, and Kevin Johnson was the series MVP. And with that, they headed into the 93-94 season with championship repeat dreams, retaining their Finals MVP for one more season guaranteed; however, The curse of ‘94 was only just beginning. They averaged just over 100ppg (15th in the league), giving up 99 (11th), and peaked mid January with a 27-12 record before diving to 46-36 to end the season.
GM BallSoHard had little to look forward to come playoff time. The Lakers’ top scorer and previous finals MVP, Kevin Johnson, averaged just 22.6ppg while the #2 Kings’ (and first round playoff opponent) top scorer Karl Malone reaped 32.5ppg during the year, and oh yeah, Malone was also the top scorer in the league. Prolific scorers that the Kings were, it didn’t seem to matter that Malone and Johnson shared a spot on the All League 1st team.
And yet the Lakers won! And they kept winning, beating in order: #2 ranked Kings, #3 ranked Warriors, and #4 ranked Mavericks. They cleaned out the best teams in the conference that they possibly could as the #7 seed, given the #1 Rockets were knocked out by the Mavs in the semis. So when they met the #1 ranked Celtics in the finals, who they had beaten in the finals just one year prior, they seemed prime for one of the greatest upsets in a young PBSL history...right?
Wrong. Dead wrong, just like a Mamba Playoff Prediction. The Lakers were handled in 6 by the Celtics this time. Leading the league in points scored, assists, blocks and defensive efficiency, the Celtics were clear favorites on paper and yet it was almost surprising when they won.
The Lakers overcame a dismal end to the regular season and beat everyone in their conference they shouldn’t have, creating hope, and that is where the curse of ‘94 began and continued in S48 (48 * 2 - 2 = 94; coincidence?).
The 48 * 2 - 2 = 94 “Coincidence”
The S48 Lakers aspirations were much different than the S4 Lakers. Whereas BallSoHard was reveling in glory and seeking it twice, greepleairport simply wanted to reset his tax so that, when players beside Delmar and Bias started to reach their own greatness, Lakers management would be ready and able to pay these fine players, too. As Greeple stated in their preseason presser, “We’re mostly biding our time this year and allowing the Delmar Bias some time to shine and grow their star power...“ so a finish of 55-27 and 5th in conference ranking, only 3 games shy of the formidable and reigning champion Wizards, was more than they could have hoped.
In fact, by the All Star break, they were still clamoring for a Playoff spot. According to Syndicate’s Power Rankings, the Lakers were the 10th in the league with the toughest schedule of any team remaining. The rest of February alone, they had the Omega conference’s best teams in the TWolves and Pelicans back to back, and then 76ers without a rest day in between, who are one of the top scoring teams the league has ever seen. Also, The Pacers were dancing with the Lakers for placement in the division, and then the Bucks battled to the finish with the Sixers for the dominant Alpha conference’s top team, so they were a tough out too. And let’s not forget the Cavs who, without a man at the helm, somehow looked playoff ready almost all season long. The Lakers hadn’t faced a two week period like this all season long, and it felt like their record would soon be closing in on .500 after sitting pretty at 30-19 up until that point.
“We would’ve been lucky to go 3-5 during that 2nd half stretch of February,” greepleairport said. “We thought we could take the Mavericks and possibly the Pacers, too, so if we won those games and then stole one from the Wolves? Pelicans? 76ers? Bucks? Hell, even the Cavs? We would’ve been extremely lucky to do that. So when we went 5-3 in that stretch, our locker room went nuts! What a testament to hard work, keeping hope alive, and never giving up.”
And that was how the Lakers played for the rest of S48’s regular season, without limitation. Should they have beat the Nuggets at home and away in back to back games in March? Beat the reigning champion Wizards at home and Lose by 1 point to them on the road? Heck, winning 20 and losing only 5 from the 1st of March until the Playoffs?
“I don’t know what it was, but things just started to click for us,” PF Jeronimo Vidal said. “Maybe we piggybacked off Len’s great play in February when he was named Player of the Month. I started having the best season of my career, and lots of things had changed since I came back from Orlando. Long stay Pete Maravich was gone, and the memory of Laker leader David Leiker had completely faded. Like a new era was beginning in LA, and I got to play a pivotal role in seeing it through helping my Lakers lead the league in blocks and block percentage. Delmar, Bias and Kelly started stealing the ball from everybody, even Dino had his opportunity and got in the mix on that. Things felt great.”
But in their final 2 regular season games, they lost by not scoring more than 94 - an unfortunate trend.
"94 But No More"
Greepleairport’s hope sounded oddly reminiscent of BallSoHard’s after taking out the Kings in the 1st round of the playoffs back in ‘94, but would it end any differently? Their hopes and dreams crushed by a formidable opponent?
It was hard to say, and Delmar Lopez refused to believe in superstitions when asked about the Curse of ‘94 returning to bite his surging Lakers in what would become the next iteration of the Curse of 94.
“Get outta here with that mess, man,” Delmar said. “We lost to the Nuggets ‘cause we lost to the Nuggets. So what if we only scored 94 points in our final game and couldn’t score more than that but once since the regular season ended? The score of 94 but no more… Did the ‘94 Lakers score 135 any game in their playoff run? No? The ‘94 finals ain’t got nothin’ to do with that. The 94 Curse… You stupid, man, get outta here.”
The Lakers knew for a while they’d face the Nuggets in Rd 1. Neither team had shifted in the playoff standings for a long time as the Wizards continued holding a commanding lead in Johnson and the other teams just weren’t finishing as strongly as these two. They split their regular season series at 2-2 and, while the lack of home court advantage was a concern, the Lakers locker room felt momentum was on their side.
“We only needed to steal one away game, just like we did in the regular season,” greepleairport said. “So long as we held our games at home we should’ve been good. We weren’t. We didn’t.”
Len Bias added, “We shifted our offensive focus late in the season and it had been paying off. I didn’t take as many looks as I had earlier in the year because Coach wanted to take advantage of Justin’s and Delmar’s hot hands. Felt like they couldn’t miss! And of course whenever the defense came on strong I’d just drop a 3 right quick, easy. But...”
Bias trailed off. Greeple, Delmar, Jeronimo and Len all fell silent. I had to bring up the curse again. Delmar stormed out of the interview and Jeronimo followed saying he’d calm him down.
“Look, I heard the story about ‘94,” Bias continued, “How Scottie Pippen built a brick house with his shooting in game 1, how Kevin Johnson’s triple double in game 2 was nothing but an afterthought with the loss putting them at 0-2. The ‘94 Lakers started each and every series with a loss or two that year, so when we lost 2 and won game 3 at home? Man, if the curse was back we’d at least make it to the playoffs! Our offense came back in game 3 even. We won by almost 30 points.”
“That’s the problem though,” greeple added, “momentum. The 94 Lakers didn’t have any momentum going into the playoffs, but we did. Ours began in March. Everything clicked. Len dropped dimes, Delmar dropped buckets (Todd too), and then our front court trio of Todd Vidal and Burnham swapped away anything that got close to the bucket. Don’t tell Delmar I said it but maybe it was a curse. The 94 curse. These guys played way too hard down the stretch to go out in Rd 1, no disrespect to the Nuggets, great team. But still, we beat great teams all March and April, so what changed? What could’ve changed?”
The game that began the 94 curse didn’t involve Denver at all. It started with the surging Brooklyn Nets, who maybe are getting a swing of a reverse 94 curse and some good karma for battling hard through an otherwise tough year. Was there something in the water? That came with LA to Denver and back home? It must be hard for the Lakers to grapple with curses beyond their control, but one thing is certain: in Seasons 4 and 48, the Lakers were great underdogs with spoiler potential who got stopped by better teams.
http://pbsl.ijbl.net/1993/
Little is known about the Lakers’ finals victory the season prior. Almost 45 years later, some records do not seem to have held their ink too well:
http://pbsl.ijbl.net/1992
But we do know that the Lakers won it all in 92-93, and Kevin Johnson was the series MVP. And with that, they headed into the 93-94 season with championship repeat dreams, retaining their Finals MVP for one more season guaranteed; however, The curse of ‘94 was only just beginning. They averaged just over 100ppg (15th in the league), giving up 99 (11th), and peaked mid January with a 27-12 record before diving to 46-36 to end the season.
GM BallSoHard had little to look forward to come playoff time. The Lakers’ top scorer and previous finals MVP, Kevin Johnson, averaged just 22.6ppg while the #2 Kings’ (and first round playoff opponent) top scorer Karl Malone reaped 32.5ppg during the year, and oh yeah, Malone was also the top scorer in the league. Prolific scorers that the Kings were, it didn’t seem to matter that Malone and Johnson shared a spot on the All League 1st team.
And yet the Lakers won! And they kept winning, beating in order: #2 ranked Kings, #3 ranked Warriors, and #4 ranked Mavericks. They cleaned out the best teams in the conference that they possibly could as the #7 seed, given the #1 Rockets were knocked out by the Mavs in the semis. So when they met the #1 ranked Celtics in the finals, who they had beaten in the finals just one year prior, they seemed prime for one of the greatest upsets in a young PBSL history...right?
Wrong. Dead wrong, just like a Mamba Playoff Prediction. The Lakers were handled in 6 by the Celtics this time. Leading the league in points scored, assists, blocks and defensive efficiency, the Celtics were clear favorites on paper and yet it was almost surprising when they won.
The Lakers overcame a dismal end to the regular season and beat everyone in their conference they shouldn’t have, creating hope, and that is where the curse of ‘94 began and continued in S48 (48 * 2 - 2 = 94; coincidence?).
The 48 * 2 - 2 = 94 “Coincidence”
The S48 Lakers aspirations were much different than the S4 Lakers. Whereas BallSoHard was reveling in glory and seeking it twice, greepleairport simply wanted to reset his tax so that, when players beside Delmar and Bias started to reach their own greatness, Lakers management would be ready and able to pay these fine players, too. As Greeple stated in their preseason presser, “We’re mostly biding our time this year and allowing the Delmar Bias some time to shine and grow their star power...“ so a finish of 55-27 and 5th in conference ranking, only 3 games shy of the formidable and reigning champion Wizards, was more than they could have hoped.
In fact, by the All Star break, they were still clamoring for a Playoff spot. According to Syndicate’s Power Rankings, the Lakers were the 10th in the league with the toughest schedule of any team remaining. The rest of February alone, they had the Omega conference’s best teams in the TWolves and Pelicans back to back, and then 76ers without a rest day in between, who are one of the top scoring teams the league has ever seen. Also, The Pacers were dancing with the Lakers for placement in the division, and then the Bucks battled to the finish with the Sixers for the dominant Alpha conference’s top team, so they were a tough out too. And let’s not forget the Cavs who, without a man at the helm, somehow looked playoff ready almost all season long. The Lakers hadn’t faced a two week period like this all season long, and it felt like their record would soon be closing in on .500 after sitting pretty at 30-19 up until that point.
“We would’ve been lucky to go 3-5 during that 2nd half stretch of February,” greepleairport said. “We thought we could take the Mavericks and possibly the Pacers, too, so if we won those games and then stole one from the Wolves? Pelicans? 76ers? Bucks? Hell, even the Cavs? We would’ve been extremely lucky to do that. So when we went 5-3 in that stretch, our locker room went nuts! What a testament to hard work, keeping hope alive, and never giving up.”
And that was how the Lakers played for the rest of S48’s regular season, without limitation. Should they have beat the Nuggets at home and away in back to back games in March? Beat the reigning champion Wizards at home and Lose by 1 point to them on the road? Heck, winning 20 and losing only 5 from the 1st of March until the Playoffs?
“I don’t know what it was, but things just started to click for us,” PF Jeronimo Vidal said. “Maybe we piggybacked off Len’s great play in February when he was named Player of the Month. I started having the best season of my career, and lots of things had changed since I came back from Orlando. Long stay Pete Maravich was gone, and the memory of Laker leader David Leiker had completely faded. Like a new era was beginning in LA, and I got to play a pivotal role in seeing it through helping my Lakers lead the league in blocks and block percentage. Delmar, Bias and Kelly started stealing the ball from everybody, even Dino had his opportunity and got in the mix on that. Things felt great.”
But in their final 2 regular season games, they lost by not scoring more than 94 - an unfortunate trend.
"94 But No More"
Greepleairport’s hope sounded oddly reminiscent of BallSoHard’s after taking out the Kings in the 1st round of the playoffs back in ‘94, but would it end any differently? Their hopes and dreams crushed by a formidable opponent?
It was hard to say, and Delmar Lopez refused to believe in superstitions when asked about the Curse of ‘94 returning to bite his surging Lakers in what would become the next iteration of the Curse of 94.
“Get outta here with that mess, man,” Delmar said. “We lost to the Nuggets ‘cause we lost to the Nuggets. So what if we only scored 94 points in our final game and couldn’t score more than that but once since the regular season ended? The score of 94 but no more… Did the ‘94 Lakers score 135 any game in their playoff run? No? The ‘94 finals ain’t got nothin’ to do with that. The 94 Curse… You stupid, man, get outta here.”
The Lakers knew for a while they’d face the Nuggets in Rd 1. Neither team had shifted in the playoff standings for a long time as the Wizards continued holding a commanding lead in Johnson and the other teams just weren’t finishing as strongly as these two. They split their regular season series at 2-2 and, while the lack of home court advantage was a concern, the Lakers locker room felt momentum was on their side.
“We only needed to steal one away game, just like we did in the regular season,” greepleairport said. “So long as we held our games at home we should’ve been good. We weren’t. We didn’t.”
Len Bias added, “We shifted our offensive focus late in the season and it had been paying off. I didn’t take as many looks as I had earlier in the year because Coach wanted to take advantage of Justin’s and Delmar’s hot hands. Felt like they couldn’t miss! And of course whenever the defense came on strong I’d just drop a 3 right quick, easy. But...”
Bias trailed off. Greeple, Delmar, Jeronimo and Len all fell silent. I had to bring up the curse again. Delmar stormed out of the interview and Jeronimo followed saying he’d calm him down.
“Look, I heard the story about ‘94,” Bias continued, “How Scottie Pippen built a brick house with his shooting in game 1, how Kevin Johnson’s triple double in game 2 was nothing but an afterthought with the loss putting them at 0-2. The ‘94 Lakers started each and every series with a loss or two that year, so when we lost 2 and won game 3 at home? Man, if the curse was back we’d at least make it to the playoffs! Our offense came back in game 3 even. We won by almost 30 points.”
“That’s the problem though,” greeple added, “momentum. The 94 Lakers didn’t have any momentum going into the playoffs, but we did. Ours began in March. Everything clicked. Len dropped dimes, Delmar dropped buckets (Todd too), and then our front court trio of Todd Vidal and Burnham swapped away anything that got close to the bucket. Don’t tell Delmar I said it but maybe it was a curse. The 94 curse. These guys played way too hard down the stretch to go out in Rd 1, no disrespect to the Nuggets, great team. But still, we beat great teams all March and April, so what changed? What could’ve changed?”
The game that began the 94 curse didn’t involve Denver at all. It started with the surging Brooklyn Nets, who maybe are getting a swing of a reverse 94 curse and some good karma for battling hard through an otherwise tough year. Was there something in the water? That came with LA to Denver and back home? It must be hard for the Lakers to grapple with curses beyond their control, but one thing is certain: in Seasons 4 and 48, the Lakers were great underdogs with spoiler potential who got stopped by better teams.